Tag Archives: faith in the public order

AsiaNews.it published this editorial today where the writer highlights some middle eastern countries. I recommend it. Interesting to note is the comment made by Syria president Bashir al-Assad who spoke with the Wall Street Journal calling the political upending a “kind of disease” due to political and economic stagnation.

The one million people gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) square are forcing the hand of Hosni Mubarak, 82, to leave office by Friday after what some have called a soft dictatorship for the past 30 years. He’s the 4th and current president of the Egyptian Republic. It won’t belong now before the many oppressive regimes around the world are taken down. Who’s next? Cuba, China, Iran?

Heightened
awareness in the days following the violence inflicted on a US Congresswoman
and several others and the deaths of a Federal Judge and several others leads
to ask what is transpiring in civil discourse. These issues are not merely a US
thing but the Australians are also dealing with the same. The Australian
Premier Kristina Keneally -a woman similar in style and content as our own
Nancy Pelosi, spoke against George Cardinal Pell, the ranking churchman of the
Catholic Church in Australia, saying she was saddened by the Cardinal’s
statements on Catholic faith and belief. So what’s been ignited by Premier
Keneally is also applicable around the world. Keneally becomes the lens to view
the issues.

President Obama revised 2001 faith based initiatives established by President George W. Bush with “Fundamental Principles and Policymaking Criteria for Partnerships with Faith-Based and Other Neighborhood Organizations” on November 17, 2010.

Catholic organizations like Catholic Charities, hospitals, clinics, assisted living organizations, adoption agencies would do well to review their policies and practices to see if the present policies cohere with what the President has set down in the executive order since there are some serious potential conflicts. Serious points of contention will likely be around the providing of religious services, counseling rooted in faith and to what degree you can apply pastoral practice to the workings of the agency. The secularists are already jumping for joy with the new amendments because they want more restrictive policies and stringent policies of accountability for the use of monies and practices by faith-based organizations. Having said all this, though, clarity of what can and cannot be done are helpful since they establish rules of engagement. Clear to all reasonable minded people, religious freedom needs to be respected. And we Catholics will hear more about religious freedom in 2011 with Pope Benedict addressing the issue of religious freedom at significant events like world youth day. The Pope is very clear that we propose and not impose our faith in Christ, even with those who claim to be Christians.

The other day the New York Times published a graph
showing, according to polls, that Catholic voters pose a serious problem for
tomorrow’s election. Interesting. The red bar demonstrates that a 24% lead for the
Republicans among US Catholics.Remember, Catholics voted for Barack Obama, 54-44% in 2008. No poll
tells the whole truth and, in my are barely an indicator of what is really
thought by those polled. This poll is no different. However, if the pollsters
are remotely correct, Catholics could lead the way to change in the November 2election from Democrat-to-Republican.

Let’s be honest: Catholics are no
different in their voting patterns than the general public. Sad but true. And I
find this fact to be a disappointing fact. Discriminating who these Catholics
are as active (or non-active) is curious. The polls tell us that weekly
church-going Catholics in 2008 did not vote for Democrats, more or less.

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement, and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.